The Prey and The Predator
by swanpride
Summary: Not everything is like it seems to be. Warnings: Partner Betrayal
1. The Prey

_A/N: Since I am not a native speaker and I don't have an english Beta at the moment, I apologize for eventuell mistakes I overlooked. _

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The Prey

Jim watched Blair intently as he read the letter the police department had send him. He watched as the shoulders of his guide fell in a silent defeat. He did not have to read the letter to know what was written in it. After all, he was the one who had set things in motion. He was not really interested in hurting Blair even more, but it had been necessary after Simon nearly had destroyed his opportunity to get his guide finally into his own stronghold in Peru. But he wont held it against his captain. He was his friend, at last, he was the friend of the Jim Ellison persona he had created for his daily police work.

Jim Ellison, hero extraordinary…how someone could believe this bullshit, Jim would never know. His father has taught him early on that you should always look out for your own interests first. Jim never went to the army to protect his country. He went to get the skills necessary to be a fearsome fighter.

Sometimes Jim wondered how people could be so gullible. Which soldier would stay in the jungle and try to complete his mission after his whole unit had been killed? Not even the rangers were THAT dedicated. Jim stayed first because he was hurt and unable to hike out. Later he stayed because he had discovered an opportunity.

He did not STOP the drug trading through the Chopec territories. He took over the business, made himself the most feared drug baron in Peru. When the army finally send the search team, he already spent more time on his big estate than in the jungle, drinking cocktails and fooling around with the pretty Alicia Bannet. It was luck that he was at the village to speak with Incancha when the chopper came. Luck and another opportunity. It was time to widen his operation.

It was a gamble, but the army bought his explanation about "waiting for his relief"…right. He supposed that narrow minded people will buy every kind of lie as long as it fits in their very own small world. The even gave him money for the time in the jungle, without ever questioning his story. Idiots!

Alicia was not happy with his decision and left his estate instead of taking care for it. Jim did not care. He supposed he loved her but he won't allow her to dictate his actions. In the following years he became the biggest crime lord of Cascade. Many people thought that "the panther" was only an urban myth, because he took great care to keep a low profile. Only a few people had ever met him personally and even fewer knew what he looked like. Nevertheless he managed a big network of criminals. Especially his time at Vice gave him enough opportunity to find the right people for his little but rapidly growing operation. Since he did his work as detective as good as possible (sometimes benefitting from his shady contacts), nobody in the police department ever suspected. Well, nobody beside Jack, but Jim just had to ignore the right request for backup to get him out of the picture. The scrutiny aftermath was a hassle, but it was also worth it because nobody thought about questioning his methods or his high solve rate again.

He had thought about leaving Cascade and going back to Peru when the hassle with the senses began. Incacha had warned him that he would not be able to suppress them infinitely and that he may loose control without his right guide, but Jim had not bothered to find him. Knowing that he had to get a grip as fast as possible, he decided on a dual course of action: Looking for help from modern doctors and searching for experts on the spiritual side of the problem.

He immediately recognized Sandburg as he walked through the door. He poked a little bit fun about his disguise, but decided against explaining him that he had already had taken a look on his paper about sentinels. He had planned to approach him after his (fruitless) visit to the hospital and now he did not have to do it as a beggar.

Admittedly, when he shoved Sandburg against the wall and smelled the sweet odour of a real guide, he freaked. He did not plan to meat his guide in this fashion. Luckily, Sandburg proved to be unusual ready to forgive. But also very law abiding.

Jim had found his guide, but surely the young man would not be ready to give everything up in order to life with a crime lord on an estate in Peru. And even if Blair was a free spirit, somebody was bound to care for him. A kidnapping may raise too much attention.

So he began his elaborate plan to make Blair dependent on him. First he paid someone to blow up the warehouse Blair was residing in under the disguise of a street war. To get Blair into his loft was the easy part. To hold him there was more difficult. Beside all the people who where out to get him (sadly Jim had to decide against killing Kincaid off like he did it with Lash, but he could make sure that Brackett had a little accident in prison), to ward of the females proved difficult. Especially Maya was a real risk, so Jim had to destroy one of his very own business partners to get her out of the picture.

When Simon decided to make a vacation in Peru, Jim saw his chance to capture Blair…to become missing in the jungle was a good way to vanish once and for all. He paid the chopper pilot to fake an engine failure and to leave Simon in the jungle. But he had not counted in the village and the children, or on the incompetence of Karl Reischer. The trip was successful because he could dispose of a potential thread, but he had to allow Blair to go back to the US.

Well, he was a patient man. Rather sooner than later the university would getting feed up with Blair's constant absence. And in the end, it turned out a good thing that he had to stay. This way he was there when Incancha came because of the actions of Cyclops oil. The damned company had no right to do anything on this land. Jim had purchased it for the Chopec as part of the agreement!

Before he died, Incancha warned Jim that Alicia was on the loose. He had a vision, telling him that she had now obtained her sentinel abilities. Jim knew, one day they would cross path again. When he had the first visions of he spirit animal, he reacted impulsively, evicting Blair out of his life. He knew his guide would forgive him his erratic behaviour, but he won't be as understanding when he learned that he was involved with a criminal. Or at last that was, what Jim thought. Turned out that his naïve guide used his very own explanation for the obvious connection between the two sentinels. The same he created when Laura tried to lure Jim in her scheme. Pheromones…Jim would never allow pheromones to control him that way. He simply loved dangerous woman. The biggest kick was being with Caroline, risking to get discovered every day.

Although nothing worked like he had planned it, in the end he was the winner. He had still Blair, Alicia (or Alex) was out of the picture and he had gotten new powers. His senses were better than ever. But he was also getting more and more desperate to go back to Peru.

He deliberately ignored the problem Blair had with Ventriss, knowing that the university would more likely dismiss Blair than risking to lose a lot of money. He was right, but when Brad Ventriss, the little idiot, attacked Blair physically, he had to do something. But he got another opportunity. To allow the dissertation getting leaked to the press (he controlled every mail that was send from Sandburg's computer) had been a gamble, but he had been sure that Sandburg would feel guilty enough to deny his own work. He had been right. And now it was finally time to lock the trap.


	2. The Predator

_A/N: By popular demand, here a small companion piece to "The Prey". I have to thank "Dark Silence", who acted as a Beta for me for this part. I don't think that I will write another One-Shot for this universe…at least, for now I have no concrete idea for one__. The warnings for the first One-Shot apply here, too. _

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The Predator

Blair was not sure if he would be able to forgive Naomi anytime soon, but in the end, it had all been his fault. He had been the one who had not done his job like he was supposed to do. And he had been the one who had lied from the very first day onwards.

Jim had not been the first Sentinel he met. Not by a long shot. From his earliest childhood onwards, he had been some kind of magnet for people with special senses. Many of them had five senses enhanced. Each of them had been dangerous.

Blair was not sure if the protective imperative a sentinel was supposed to have was a myth, or if the modern society somehow screwed the potential sentinels up. Perhaps it was the constant pressure of having to control their senses in a hostile environment full of strange sounds, smells and flashing lights, which made the potentials sentinels aggressive - and deadly for any guide which crossed their path.

According to the consortium, he was the first known guide in the last 200 years who had managed to reach adulthood. Blair could thank Naomi's never-ending search for enlightenment for that, because she just happened to stumble over someone who was able to recognize Blair for what he was. Someone, who took measures to make sure that Blair would survive his childhood.

At first he was protected by the consortium. Later he became one of the protectors. Most of the time he acted as bait for dangerous sentinels – they could not withstand the lure of a guide, so he had an easy time to run around their defenses. The "hippy-student" personality he adopted helped too, because he got always underestimated. As if someone with no training at all would be able to react like he did in dangerous situations!

Jim had been different. He had been the first sentinel who did not claim Blair immediately as his. Blair even moved into a rundown warehouse in order to activate Jim's protective instinct, without success. The thing had to blow up for Blair to get an invitation into the sanctuary of his sentinel. Back then he had been sure that he had finally found the real thing.

But then Naomi came, saw and was not impressed.

"He is too comfortable around criminals," she had warned Blair.

"You weren't exactly shy either!" he shot back. "Jim is a cop; he has done undercover work before."

"There is something off! He is too possessive. He hides it well, but he is! Please, Blair, be careful!"

He had promised. And he began to notice things. Jim's mood when Maya turned up again was the first clue. But he was good. Really good! When Naomi came back with information about a drug lord who just happened to operate from the Chopec territory, Blair didn't believe her.

But Jim was slipping. The way he reacted to the Iris incident was a dead giveaway. No real sentinel would have allowed his guide to get booked. From this moment onward, Blair was on alert. He was on alert and nevertheless nearly lost his life when Alex appeared.

He followed Jim to Mexico because he had to know the truth. He got more than he bargained for. It took all his self-control to appear unassuming afterwards. But he knew what Jim had planned. No, what he had planned for years! Blair hadn't even realized beforehand that he had lost most of his old friends. Now, the guys from Mayor Crime were his only regular social contact. He felt like a wolf in an outdoor enclosure…seemingly free, but entrapped nevertheless, with a warden who would be able to take him from his pack at will.

With no way out, he called Naomi and they devised a plan to hurry things along. It worked. And now he was sitting in a plane, destination Peru, with the goal to take down one of the biggest drug ring in America. Ready to destroy the man he had thought of as his other half for years. No, he couldn't forgive Naomi anytime soon that she showed him the truth. But he would thank her every day for it.


End file.
